Opening address to the students attending the Aural Clinique in the Glasgow Western Infirmary, delivered November 30th, 1878 / by Thomas Barr, M.D.

  • Barr, Thomas, 1846-1916
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Opening address to the students attending the Aural Clinique in the Glasgow Western Infirmary, delivered November 30th, 1878 / by Thomas Barr, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    correct indications and the proper time for which have only been made clear since the improved modes of examination have been introduced. When we have a cavity filled with pus, especially such as the tympammi, whose walls consist partly of bone and partly of dense fibrous tissue, situated in the immediate neighbourhood of most important structures, a prompt and effectual opening, with the knife is simply in accordance with the clearest surgical instincts, and is of vital importance not only to the future healthy function of the organ, but also to the safety of the patient's life. This is eminently true when, as is often the case in scarlet fever, the morbid secreting process is rapidly and constantly going on, and when utter destruction of essential parts of the organ of hearing may be completed in a very short time. In recent times operations upon the tympanic mem- brane have been practised in many other circumstances besides the clearly defined conditions I have just spoken of, such as for the purpose of cutting the tendon of the tensor tympani muscle, or of dividing any adhesions binding the membrane to the inner wall of the tym- panum, or for the purpose of injecting either by way of the external auditory canal or by the Eustachian tube certain solvent or stimulating fluids into the tympanum. Such modes of treatment must be reserved for detailed consideration at another time. I can also do nothing more than merely refer to the use of the galvanic
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